Winder railway station

Winder
Location
Place	Winder, Frizington
Area	Copeland
Coordinates	54°32′55″N 3°28′21″W / 54.5486°N 3.4726°WCoordinates: 54°32′55″N 3°28′21″W / 54.5486°N 3.4726°W
Grid reference	NY048180
Operations
Original company	Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway
Pre-grouping	LNWR & FR Joint Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	2
History
12 February 1864	Opened
June 1874	Closed to passengers
May 1875	Reopened to passengers
13 April 1931	Closed to passengers[1]
11 March 1940	Reopened to workmen's trains[2]
8 April 1940	Closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
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1904 railway junctions around Cleator Moor, Parton, Rowrah & Whitehaven

Whitehaven, Cleator & Egremont Railway
Cleator and Workington Junction Railway Cumbrian Coast Line to Carlisle Cockermouth and Workington Railway Marron Junction Workington Central Workington Main Bridgefoot Harrington Parton Halt Branthwaite Distington Gilgarran Branch Distington Works Ullock Parton Lamplugh Rowrah Whitehaven Summit Winder Whitehaven Tunnel Yeathouse Corkickle Eskett Eskett Junction Mirehouse Junction Frizington Moor Row Cleator Moor West Cleator Moor East St Bees Cleator Moor(first) Woodend St Bees Golf Halt Gillfoot Egremont Nethertown St Thomas Cross Platform Beckermet Mines Braystones Beckermet Sellafield Cumbrian Coast Line to Barrow-in-Furness

Winder railway station was built by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway. It served the village of Winder, Frizington, Cumbria, England.^[3][4]

History

The line was one of the fruits of the rapid industrialisation of West Cumberland in the second half of the Nineteenth Century. The station opened to passengers with the line from Moor Row to Rowrah on 12 February 1864. The station closed for a year in the 1870s, then remained in continuous use until closure with the steep decline of the area's industrial fortunes in the Twentieth Century.^[1]

Services

Whilst some Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway (WCER) mineral, goods and passenger traffic to and from Rowrah passed north along the line to Marron Junction, the greater part arrived and left southwards towards Moor Row and therefore passed through Winder. Mineral traffic was also generated locally from the quarries and mines such as the Postlethwaite's, Salterhall and Florence workings on a branch heading southeast immediately south of Winder station.

In 1922 seven all stations passenger trains called at Winder in each direction, with an extra on Whitehaven Market Day. Four were Rowrah to Whitehaven services, the other three plied a long, circuitous route between Workington Main and Whitehaven via Camerton, Marron Junction, Ullock, Rowrah and Moor Row.^[5]

Winder Station's owning Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont company was taken over by the LNWR and Furness Railway in 1879 as a Joint Line, whereafter passenger traffic through the station was usually worked by the LNWR.^[6]

Goods traffic typically consisted of a two daily turns Up and Down.

Mineral traffic was the dominant flow, though this was subject to considerable fluctuation with trade cycles. Stations and signalling along the line south of Rowrah were changed during the Joint regime to conform to Furness Railway standards.^[7]

Rundown and closure

The station closed on 13 April 1931 when normal passenger traffic ended along the line, though workmen's trains were reinstated in March 1940, only to be withdrawn a month later. An enthusiasts' special ran through on 5 September 1954. After scant occasional use the line northwards from Rowrah was abandoned in 1960 and subsequently lifted.^[8]

The line southwards from Rowrah through Winder lead a charmed life, continuing with a limestone flow from a quarry at Rowrah until 1978, after which all traffic ceased and the tracks were lifted.^[9]

Afterlife

By 2008 Winder Station was a private residence, complete with a platform. The trackbed had been transformed into part of National Cycle Route 71.^[10]

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Rowrah Line and station closed		Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway		Eskett 1864-1872
				Yeathouse 1872-1931

See also

• Furness Railway
• Cleator and Workington Junction Railway

References

1. Butt 1995, p. 251.
2. Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 142.
3. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 26.
4. Jowett 2000, Map 36.
5. Bradshaw 1985, p. 510.
6. McGowan Gradon 2004, p. 12.
7. W McGowan Gradon's 1942 Furness Railway study, via cumberlandarchives.co.uk
8. Atterbury 2009, p. 208.
9. Suggitt 2008, p. 59.
10. Suggitt 2008, p. 60.

Sources

• Anderson, Paul (April 2002). Hawkins, Chris, ed. "Dog in the Manger? The Track of the Ironmasters". British Railways Illustrated. Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd. 11 (7).
• Atterbury, Paul (2009). Along Lost Lines. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-2706-2.
• Bradshaw (1986) [1922]. Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide (reprint). Guild Publishing London.
• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
• Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, Roger W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places X 43. Headington, Oxford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0 85361 281 1.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• McGowan Gradon, W. (2004) [1952]. The Track of the Ironmasters: A History of the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway. Grange-over-Sands: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 0-9540232-2-6.
• Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0 7153 8003 6.
• Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978 0 7110 3695 6.

Further reading

• British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.
• Bairstow, Martin (1995). Railways In The Lake District. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-11-2.
• Bowtell, Harold D. (1989). Rails through Lakeland: An Illustrated Journey of the Workington-Cockermouth-Keswick-Penrith Railway 1847-1972. Wyre, Lancashire: Silverling Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-947971-26-2.
• Joy, David (1983). Lake Counties (Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 094653702X.
• McGowan Gradon, W. (2004) [1952]. The Track of the Ironmasters: A History of the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway.
• Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
• Western, Robert (2001). The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway OL113. Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-564-0.

External links

• Map of the line with photos, via RAILSCOT
• The station on overlain OS maps surveyed from 1898, via National Library of Scotland
• The closed station on a 1948 OS Map, via npe maps
• The station, via Rail Map Online
• The railways of Cumbria, via Cumbrian Railways Association
• Photos of Cumbrian railways, via Cumbrian Railways Association
• The railways of Cumbria, via Railways_of_Cumbria
• Cumbrian Industrial History, via Cumbria Industrial History Society
• The line's and station's Engineer's Line References, via railwaycodes.org.uk
• Furness Railtour using many West Cumberland lines 5 September 1954, via sixbellsjunction
• A video tour-de-force of the region's closed lines, via cumbriafilmarchive
• 1882 RCH Diagram showing the station, see page 173 of the pdf, via google
• The remains of Winder station, via Old Cumbria Gazetteer